Kemp Affirms Reexamination of Voting System as Accurate and Safe

ATLANTA – Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp confirmed a thorough and successful reexamination of the State’s voting system currently in use during the 2018 election cycle.

“As provided under Georgia law, I responded to a request made by ten electors to conduct an examination of Georgia’s current voting equipment to test its accuracy and security,” said Kemp. “After a thorough examination, the team’s recommendation is that the system is accurate and safe for continued use. I am confident that the current system, which is tested by experts for every election, continues to properly capture and reflect all voters’ choices.”

The examination was conducted over a three-day period with testing on November 27, 2017 in Muscogee County, November 28, 2017 in Richmond County, and November 29, 2017 in Bibb County. These counties were selected for geographic diversity, varying population size, and the fact that they were not conducting or preparing to conduct any elections at the time.

The reexamination involved a mock election with randomly selected votes on randomly selected equipment in three counties over three consecutive days. Voting equipment operated in “election mode” using a Global Election Management System (GEMS) database created from the same equipment which produces GEMS databases for actual Georgia elections. There was an exact and perfect reporting of all votes cast on all tested devices. Based on these results, the examination team found that the examined voting system could be safely and accurately used.

“To further increase resiliency and update an aging system, I completely support moving to a new system with a voter verifiable paper trail,” said Kemp. “My office is on the record that Georgia should aim to have that system in place by the 2020 election cycle. We took the first steps toward this goal with last year’s successful pilot project in Conyers, and that is why I have also formed a bipartisan commission tasked with analyzing the existing options and costs for a new voting system. I look forward to presenting our findings to the General Assembly and Georgia’s next Secretary of State in 2019.”

A pdf of the full report is attached to this communication.
Brian Kemp has been Secretary of State since January 2010. Among the office’s wide-ranging responsibilities, the Secretary of State is charged with conducting secure, accessible, and fair elections, the registration of corporations, and the regulation of securities, charities, and professional license holders. For more information about the office, go to www.sos.ga.gov.